


Second Prize

by Pookaseraph



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Small Royal Edition Spoilers, Spoils the trailer, Verse 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 16:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13930917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: Iris and Cor greet the Dawn, and clear up some confusion.





	Second Prize

Janica had called Iris soon after Cor had come back to the base after his fight with a Cerberus, a _Six-Damned Cerberus_ , and while getting away from Lestallum quickly hadn't been in the cards, the second Dawn broke, and all hell broke loose... Iris could admit she left a few of her responsibilities slide so she could get to Insomnia ASAP.

"You damn idiot," she greeted him the second she walked through the infirmary door.

He chuckled, which caused him to wince and Delilah to give him a light whap on the side of the head. "Don't strain yourself, Marshal."

"Yeah, don't strain yourself," Iris said, coming over to his bedside and grabbing his hand, loosely at first until it became obvious that his sword arm was unharmed and she held a little tighter.

After a few moments, she leaned in and brushed her lips against Cor's, and he answered with his own soft kiss.

"I'll be fine, really," he assured her.

"Broke your collarbone and three ribs," Delilah continued. "They should be knitted up just a bit, but it would be good to get it checked in Lestallum. I'll leave you two, and... I'll go grab one of the chairs. You two ought to enjoy the sun."

"Yeah," Iris said, looking at Cor with a fond expression. "It was so _bright_. I forgot what it was like. Nearly crashed three times just between here and Norduscae."

"I didn't need to hear that," he answered. "Am I good for a short walk?"

Delilah nodded, and Iris came to the other side of the bed and then put her arm around his waist and carefully helped him make the steps out of the infirmary, into the war room, and then take the elevator up the two floors into the _bright_.

"Six, you weren't kidding."

The two of them found an empty space, concrete that had crumbled just a touch over the years, but was solid enough. Iris settled at Cor's right, clinging to his hand, watching the way the whole of the city lit up. The glass sparkled, the bits of metal that had been MTs shone... "It's... so beautiful."

Every inch of it was dirty, broken, and crumbled, but after ten years... Iris saw her home. 

"Yes." She looked over at him, and saw him looking at her.

She chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to his nose. "Hi."

"I don't think I've ever..." He wriggled free of her hand and then reached out, touching along her own nose. "You're beautiful in the sun."

After a few moments, her eyes went subconsciously toward the Citadel, and then once her eyes caught it she couldn't look away. "I hope Gladdy is okay," she whispered. "And maybe... Ignis's plans came through?"

She looked over to Cor and she saw his sad smile, but he nodded. "I hope so."

Delilah brought her a wheelchair, and after Cor got settled in - and spent his prerequisite time bitching about feeling old - they began their meander toward the Citadel.

Iris didn't exactly hold out high hopes. She knew Noct was probably gone... things unsaid again, but she couldn't really find it in her to regret it too badly. There were more important things, all told, than a single goodbye delayed over a decade. "I would have liked to see him again..."

"I know," he answered.

Their walk came to an abrupt stop when several figures came into view around a corner. Iris was immediately wary, far too many years had passed for her to easily let her guard down, but then she saw the unmistakeable outline of her behemoth of a brother. "Gladdy!"

Iris looked down at the wheelchair, momentarily conflicted. "Go," Cor said softly. "I'll catch up."

She was off at a dash in an instant, and her arms wrapped around her brother with a fierce hug, and he slung her around and whooped his joy at the moment: Dawn.

He whipped her legs around, and Iris laughed and laughed, before he set her down and she looked around only to realize...

"Noct?" He had been walking just a touch behind the others with Ravus and her eyes grew wide as she saw him. The first thing she noticed is he'd ... started to look a lot more like his father, and he was... stately. "I... you're..."

She laughed, and a few tears started to fall.

"Hey," he said, hand up, waving just a little, and she laughed again before coming up to him and hugging him as well. "It's... It's good to see you."

"Yeah," her voice was shaky as she let him go, and then she stepped away to look at him again. All five of them were bruised and bloody and tired, but they were all _alive_. "It's... done?"

"I still have to..." He didn't finish, and Iris took that to mean _die_... "But it can wait a little while... years."

Iris nodded, that was the best they had hoped for, _time_... "I'm so glad."

"I'm sorry I left before... before we could talk."

Iris shook her head. "No, it's alright, really."

"Come on," he tilted his head, and Iris looked at him, a little confused for a moment. "I've got time... and a few hours away from the crowds isn't going to hurt anyone."

This was... that strange moment she'd waited for for a decade, and yet when she took a few steps away from the guys she found herself confused. She looped her arm through his because that seemed... the right thing to do, but as soon as she did it it felt... wrong. They didn't go far, barely a block, enough space for them to have privacy and...

"You wanted to talk?"

Iris looked up at him, and was suddenly at a loss for what to say.

"I..." She looked down. She wasn't used to being so tongue-tied, not anymore... "It's so weird. When you went into the Crystal, I told myself: 'when he gets back, tell him how you feel'. I made this promise that I was never going to let that chance slip away again, and now..."

She looked over at him. Older, more handsome if she was being honest with herself, more stately, and yet.. "But I don't love you anymore."

He answered with a sad smile. "I never should have led you on..."

Iris shook her head. "No, no... it was so nice, those first few years when everything started to fall apart, I could have this little fantasy: you'd come back, you'd save the world, and we'd... 

"I knew it was stupid, I knew it wasn't going to happen, but when everything was terrible... it gave me a little light, yaknow?"

"Nothing wrong with that." He smiled again, more genuinely happy. "I'm glad I could be there for you... even when I wasn't there. But then I would have hated for you to spend ten years..."

"Just two," she assured him. "Maybe three?" She chuckled. "It was a process. We all had a lot of growing to do, changing, fighting, surviving... There wasn't really time for moping and dwelling."

"Demon Slayer Iris," he said, voice holding a hint of amusement and teasing.

"Talcott," Iris sighed and shook her head. "Most people don't _actually_ call me that. It's usually 'Lady Iris' or 'Captain'..."

"I thought Gladio was heading up the Crownsguard now," Noct said.

"Sure, but it's... it's complicated. Cor heads up the Kingsglaive," she ticked that off on her finger. "They're... um, it's a little weird and hard to explain, but I'll tell you later if you want. Gladdy heads up the Crownsguard, which is a lot of peacekeeping and protecting Lestallum proper, just like the old Crownsguard did for Lucis. A lot of Hunters came from the Hunters to the Crownsguard when that division happened. And then the _Hunters_ did the actual... Hunting. A lot of escorting from here and there, evacuating when outposts were under attack, hunting for meat at the start, and other resources by the end...

"Monica started off sort of assigning the Hunters and the Glaives to different areas that suited their expertise, I started off assisting in that before Cor finally gave in and let me train properly." Iris remembered _that_ argument.

As much as it was an odd reason for it, Iris remembered it as the start of an actual affection for Cor. When she was younger, Cor had always been stoic and unmoving, a stone, emotionless, but when she finally pushed him hard enough and he had confessed how terrified he was to fail her father again by getting his daughter killed...

She shook her head to clear it. "I never really took up with one group... a year or so in I just bounced between them, but then... um... Lady Lunafreya gifted Ravus with some of her power, you know... or Bahamut did? I don't know. He's not really an _Oracle_ , but he was able to heal, keep the Scourge at bay, that sort of thing. He adopted me a little bit... or maybe I adopted him, and it was usually just a few of us driving around, making sure the Havens were safe and the wards were fresh... That's all."

"Sounds amazing."

She flushed and shook her head. "So I'm captain of a squad of like... three, but I fight with whoever needs it, yaknow? Or fought... I guess if I had to pick one, I'm a Hunter."

Noct nodded and gave her a bright smile. "Really found a place for yourself... you grew up."

"So did you," she answered immediately, because he had, he was much more mature, that much was obvious.

They fell silent for a long minute, Iris soaked up the sun and Noct seemed to soak up being alive. "But now I've got to ask... if you aren't in love with _me_...?"

Iris laughed. "That'll certainly help you get over a guy, yeah..." That hadn't been all of it, or even most of it, but...

She reached for the necklace tucked below her Hunter tan flak vest, and showed the ring that hung there. Dino had made it, the ruby set in it was flat and cushion cut - as it had been when it was first set into the scabbard of Kotetsu - and it was mounted in a silver claw setting with soft, floral etchings all around the band that mirrored the original scabbard.

"Engaged?" Noct asked. "Married?"

"Married, four years," she answered with a smile.

"It looks... familiar." He frowned at it. "Have I see this somewhere before?"

Iris couldn't help it, she laughed. "Probably."

"Come on," he said, voice a touch whiny, but also amused. "Give a guy a break, it's been ten years."

"Well..." She flushed. "You might notice the Marshal's scabbard is down a ruby..."

"The Ma-- Cor?!" Noct asked, obviously shocked.

"Yeah. He's great... the best."

"Did Gladio try to kick his ass?"

"Key word: tried," Iris answered with another giggle. "Gladdy wasn't thrilled, but Monica and Dustin talked him around. Cor's not really... a romantic, so they were easy to convince it was serious."

She shrugged. "Ancient history now, we've been together six years. Thanks for... making the time, Noct. I know it's stupid, but I feel a lot better now that we've talked."

"Not stupid if it made you feel better," he answered. He then reached around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug, and then a soft kiss against her temple. "I'm glad you're happy. He treats you well?"

"Don't worry about that," Iris answered. "But I do want to make sure he didn't sprain something being a dummy in the last half hour." She had some _celebrating_ she wanted to do, preferably naked, although that might need to take a rain check...

The two of them headed back to the small group of men waiting there. Iris set her hand on Cor's uninjured shoulder, and then leaned down to press a kiss to his temple.

"I should get back to Lestallum," Gladdy said as soon as she arrived. "Make sure things aren't getting out of hand."

"I'll work with the Kingsglaive to secure the area a bit, plan for structural engineers...," Iris began.

Ravus shook his head. "I'll see to it. You and the Marshal can return to Lestallum for now."

"We're coming back as soon as he's not concussed or bleeding," Iris assured him. Ravus tilted his head in acquiescence.

"I'll get on the line with EXINERIS girls to see if we can get the power flowing in properly again," Prompto said.

"I should probably... figure out what the hell I'm doing," Noct said with a chuckle. "I'll see you when you get back, Marshal, Iris."

"I'll grab your things," Gladdy assured her and Cor. "Go ahead to the edge of town to the pickup point."

It would take a while with Cor not supposed to walk, so Iris nodded and started to push him in that direction.

"You're awfully quiet," she said as they headed toward the edge of the destruction zone, out to where the roads were still vaguely roads.

"Just... taking it all in."

Iris could hear the lie, or the half-truth, and she was unsure what to make of it.

"Iris, I... wait."

Iris stopped pushing the chair, and then found a place to sit and she wheeled him over and turned him so they could look at each other and she could see Cor was upset... the upset face he had that no one else seemed to notice except for her. She reached out and tangled her fingers with his and she waited.

"If...," Cor paused, and she could hear his ragged breathing for a moment, and then he looked up. "If he loves you, don't let me keep you from that."

Iris opened her mouth, shocked at what she was hearing. Did he really...?! "You'd... give me up, just like that?" she asked.

That was the start of the tears that Cor rarely, rarely cried. "Yes," he answered. "Because I want you to be happy."

She'd just spent the last half hour extolling the virtues of the man in front of her, she'd just told Noct how much she loved Cor, she'd just... How could he not _know_?! How could he even ask? How could he have for a second believed she would ever want to be with Noct over him?

And that was the horrified moment that she realized she had never, ever said that to Cor. She'd never thought she _needed_ to, but it was clearly a dark seed that had been in his heart for _years_ that had blossomed under the Dawn. "Gods, I'm sorry," she said, she scrambled from her perch on the concrete and grabbed him and held him tight. "Cor, I'm so, so, so sorry."

When she pulled away she could see he was crying, could see how upset he still was. "I love you," he said, voice soft, voice in so much pain...

"Cor, listen to me," she said, she reached out and cupped his face and ran her thumbs against his crow's feet and then along the corners of his mouth, and she shook her head. "There's no contest, six, seven years ago? Maybe, _maybe_ , for a fraction of an instant there would have been a contest. You're not my second prize, you're not my consolation, you're not _anything_ but the love of my Six-Damned life. Noct is a childish fantasy I outgrew... you're my _husband_. You're not getting rid of me that easily, buster."

"Thank gods," Cor said, and he grabbed her one armed and pulled her in. She could hear the relief, feel it in the way he clung to her, and she relaxed for a moment. "I didn't want to lose you. Iris you're... the love of my Six-Damned life, too."

She chuckled, an awkward tangle of their limbs finally resolved with her looking down at him and shaking her head. "You're not getting out of all those promises you made me either. I made a list."

"A list," he chuckled. "Well, remind a senile old soldier what you talked me into again."

She stepped away and came to stand behind him, giving the chair a nudged before she kissed at his neck. "Let's see... I was promised a house, a proper one, that we're not sharing with a dozen other people. It needs a huge garden with lots of light and a sewing room."

"Sounds wonderful," he answered.

"At least two kids."

"A boy and a girl."

There were the tiny promises, the quiet ones, 'it will be alright', 'Dawn will come', the ones whispered quietly into her hair as she drifted off to sleep.

"That you'd love me forever."

"Of course," Cor answered.

"And that I'll love you forever, too..." She slid her hands along his chest, carefully, mindful of the fact that his ribs had been cracked just hours earlier. "Like I said at our _wedding_ , which I'd hope you remember."

"I'm sorry," he grumbled. "I wanted you to be happy."

"I am happy, with you. Now I seem to remember something about beer on your list."

"Brewing," he reminded her, even though she already knew. "Honestly at this point we should just get a farm."

"I know how much you love those little fluffy deathballs," Iris answered, laughing at the way Cor went mushy over chickatrices. It was their private secret, but Iris loved to make fun of her straight-laced, staid, husband who went to pieces over something so... cute. "Maybe we should."

Talcott waved to them from the distance, and Iris waved back: "Talcott!"

He came running, stopping in front of Cor. "Are you alright, Sir?"

"Broke a few ribs," Iris assured him. "Just getting him to Lestallum for some x-rays and painkillers."

"Did...?" Talcott fell quiet. "His Majesty, did he...?"

Iris broke into a grin a mile wide. "He's alright. But for _now_ we need transport back to Lestallum and Gladdy will be along shortly with some things. He's going to coordinate keeping the peace while things get shaken up."

After some poorly coordinated attempts, Iris got Cor up into the cabin and then squeezed into the seat between Cor and Talcott. She was on his bad side now, she she couldn't lean in and snuggle the way she wanted to, but Cor had his hand out for her and she tangled her fingers with his.

A few minutes passed like that, waiting for Gladdy to come after them, and Iris tugged off Cor's half-gloves, noting the bare ring finger on his left, the same as hers...

"Hey," she said, glancing up at him.

"Hmm?"

"Less fighting?" she prompted. He nodded. "Less... worry of losing a ring in the dark?"

He smiled, catching her aim, and he unbuttoned the top snap of his uniform and reached under the vest, pulling out the chain that held his own wedding ring. It was far more simple, cast from the same silver batch as hers had been, the inside of the band etched with their initials and the date of their marriage, with a little flourish between them.

The two of them pulled the chains off from around their necks, and Iris looked down at her ring. It didn't dazzle in the sun, a cushion cut wouldn't, but it was beautiful all the same... she glanced over to Cor's, plain and unadorned and very him.

He reached out and took her chain and Iris mirrored him. The two of them fiddled silently for some time, minutes, before Iris was finally able to undo the clasp and upend the chain to let the ring plop onto her hand.

"Let me see if I can remember..." She fell silent for a long moment. "I've always respected and admired you, I've always trusted you, but I haven't always loved you. Realizing that I did brightened the Dark and made the most trying times bearable... because I was there with you."

Cor cleared his throat, and smiled at her. "One day I woke up and I realized that you'd snuck into my heart. I didn't even notice it happen, falling for you was as easy as breathing, and you've always been... my Dawn."

It wasn't their vows, Iris didn't quite remember them anymore, but it would do in a pinch, and after a tiny prompting she held out her left hand and Cor gently slid the ring onto her finger. She answered with his ring, and then she looked over at him with a bright smile.

"Top prize," she assured him, in case he needed to hear it again.

"You were always mine."

"And _you_ were always _mine_ ," she returned.

They were startled out of sappy declarations by Talcott opening the driver's door and Iris scooted away just a fraction. The cabin shook, and Iris looked over her shoulder to see her brother settle into the pickup bed, giving her a little wave as he did, which she returned.

"I can't believe it's here," Talcott said as he turned on the truck.

"So much to do," Iris answered.

"And a future to look forward to," Cor continued for her.

A soft press of her lips to the corner of his mouth earned her a smile, and then she settled into her seat. "Let's go greet it."


End file.
